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Acrobat PDF Software

To create a file for clients to view or to plot one of the best ways is with Adobe Acrobat PDF files. The Acrobat Reader is free (downloadable from www.adobe.com) but it is already installed on virtually all computers, making it a good, easy, universal format. The Adobe Acrobat 4.0 pdf creation software is normally around $230. I allows you to create pdf files, group them together and create live links -- i.e. have a whole project plans linked to elevations, detail keys link to detail drawings, notes link to specs, and so on.

There are a number of free pdf creator softwares, and many CADD packages are starting to add the ability to create pdf files. They will, however, only create individual, non-linked, pages, sometimes not at high resolution, so having a copy of the real Adove Acrobat is probably a good idea for every design office anyway.

Many Adobe products you can buy may, automatically, install the ability to create pdf files from a particular machine (PhotoShop, PhotoDelux, etc.). This can indeed be used to create pdf files from within any CADD package - AutoCAD, DataCAD, VectorWorks, ArchiCAD, etc. The resulting pdf file, though, may not be "zoomable" i.e. it may only be done at "screen resolution" - great for web or reading on screen but resulting in low quality plots.

CADD Programs that create PDF files :

DataCAD 9.0

AutoCAD creates a competing proprietary file format called DWF -- drawing web format -- readable by the Voloview viewer

Free PDF Creaters :

Niknak = http://www.niknak.com

Adobe provides a freely available print driver called PDFWriter on its web site under "PlugIns and Updates"= http://www.adobe.com

Ghostscript (rasterizes postscript files)

win2pdf = http://www.daneprairie.com/

It only works with win200 or NT. The free version prints an extra page with their logo on it or you can pay $35

Cad Publisher v1.8 produces high quality pre-rendered vector art from DXF files as PostScript, Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat PDF, EPS, WMF and EMF files in monochrome, color and color separations. http://www.jwgraphics.com.au

If your consultant is unable to produce PDFs they can find enlightenment at http://www.ctrlp.com.

User Comments :

Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000

From: Douglas K Wyman <dkwyman@SWBELL.NET>

Subject: Re: PDF (caution regarding "free" solutions)

Hold on a minute!

I understand the desire to want a "free" solution but you will tend to get what you paid for and may be missing out on an important feature of the Acrobat concept:

Adobe provides a freely available print driver called PDFWriter on its web site under "PlugIns and Updates".

Also, using Ghostscript to rasterize .ps files has been suggested by other postings.

Here is the problem with the "free" solutions and my main points:

* The solutions listed above produce a PDF file which contains a platform-specific screen image of the graphic but which does not include the underlying vector information. As a result, the PDF file will provide a chunky raster image when viewed on the "wrong" platform (Win vs Mac OS for example...and don't forget about Linux, Solaris, IRIX etc).

* Also, the image obtained with the no cost methods will not truely be zoomable. Increasing the view power will simply enlarge pixels. A hairline will become 8 pixels wide at 8x magnification. No more detail will be revealed to the user by increasing the view power.

A PDF file obtained through .ps distillation with Adobe Acrobat has the very important advantages of being

* being truely portable across platforms and

* truely zoomable *

These advantages allow the user to see more/less detail and hairlines remain no more than a single pixel in width at all view powers.

Note that a single copy of Acrobat provides network-served PDF printing services for a workgroup LAN when properly configured.

These arguments caused my employer to purchase a corporate site license for the full Acrobat product. I also own personal Windows AND Mac OS Acrobat licenses for my consulting business for the same reason.

I am convinced that Adobe has done a relatively poor job of selling the advantages of full Acrobat licenses while they offer the Acrobat Viewer for free. Many, many users of Acrobat Viewer don't even realize that there is a more complete solution available for a very reasonable price. Doug.Wyman, Houston TX

* if you know of a better term than "zoomable" please feel free to substitute it